Pakistan

India

A major focus in Pakistan's foreign policy is the
continuing
quest for security against India, its large, more
powerful, and
generally hostile neighbor. Pakistan was created despite
the
opposition of the most powerful political party in
prepartition
India, the Hindu-dominated Indian National Congress, and
the
suspicion remains among Pakistanis that India has never
reconciled itself to the existence of an independent
Pakistan.
Several events further soured the relationship. One of
these was
the massive transfer of population between the two
countries at
partition, with its attendant bloodshed as Muslims left
India and
Hindus and Sikhs left Pakistan. There was also bitterness
over
the distribution of financial assets left by the British,
with
India initially blocking payments to Pakistan from the
joint
sterling account. An even more complex issue was the
sovereignty
of Kashmir, a concern arising from the accession of the
princely
states to India or Pakistan at partition. Although almost
all of
these states made the choice quickly, based on geographic
location and the religious majority of their population,
several
delayed. One of these was Hyderabad, with a predominantly
Hindu
population and a Muslim ruler who did not want to accede
to
India. Hyderabad was a landlocked state in the south of
India,
and Indian military intervention was used to incorporate
it into
India.

The princely state of Jammu and Kashmir (usually
referred to
as Kashmir), however, had a Hindu ruler and boundaries
with both
Pakistan and India. Although Muslims constituted a
majority of
the state's population, the Hindu-Sikh community made up
the
majority in the province of Jammu, and Buddhists
predominated
around Ladakh. After a popular uprising against the Hindu
ruler
in late 1947, supported by Pakistani tribesmen and some
military
units, the ruler panicked and acceded to India. The
subsequent
Indo-Pakistani War of 1947-48 over control of Kashmir
concluded
with a cease-fire brokered by the United Nations (UN),
which took
effect on January 1, 1949. Kashmir was divided by a UN
line
between the areas held by the two countries, and a 1949 UN
Security Council resolution provided for a plebiscite to
be held
under UN auspices to decide the issue of accession. India
has
refused to hold the plebiscite, and the dispute has
continued. In
1965 war broke out again between the two countries over
Kashmir,
ending in another cease-fire in September. The Tashkent
Declaration, signed on January 10, 1966, under the
auspices of
the Soviet Union, provided for restoration of the
India-Pakistan
international boundary and the Kashmir cease-fire line but
did
not result in a permanent solution to the problem.

Relations between the two countries reached a new low
in
1971, when India intervened militarily in support of
secessionist
forces in East Pakistan, thus playing an instrumental role
in the
creation of independent Bangladesh. Although the
Indo-Pakistani
War of 1971 was fought over East Pakistan, heavy fighting
also
occurred along the Kashmir cease-fire line. Consequently,
under
the Simla Agreement of 1972 following the end of that war,
the
cease-fire line in Kashmir was redefined (it is now
usually
referred to as the Line of Control), and India and
Pakistan
agreed not to use force in Kashmir. The agreement also
improved
relations sufficiently for India to release some 90,000
prisoners
of war taken when Pakistan's army had surrendered in East
Pakistan
(see Yahya Khan and Bangladesh
, ch. 1).

The circumstances surrounding the conflict over Kashmir
changed considerably over the years, as have the levels of
UN
involvement in the dispute. The military balance between
India
and Pakistan after the latter's defeat in the 1971 war
heavily
favored India. Another changed circumstance is that
beginning in
1989, India has had to face a virtual "Kashmiri intifada"
in its
repressive efforts to keep a sullen and predominantly
Muslim
Kashmiri populace under control. This insurrection, India
claimed, was supported by the "hidden hand" of Pakistan.
Furthermore, the situation became even more complex with a
growing movement among certain factions of Kashmiri
militants for
an independent Kashmiri state, precluding accession to
either
India or Pakistan. The volatile and potentially explosive
situation in Kashmir continued to be monitored in 1994 by
a team
of UN observers, who operated under significant
constraints. The
Kashmir dispute continues to be the major deterrent to
improved
relations between the two countries.

Pakistan's suspicions of Indian intentions were further
aroused by India's entry into the nuclear arena. India's
explosion of a nuclear device in 1974 persuaded Pakistan
to
initiate its own nuclear program. The issue has
subsequently
influenced the direction of Pakistan's relations with the
United
States and China. United States-Pakistan relations over
the
nuclear issue are particularly prickly. Pakistan's
relations with
China on this issue, however, have been influenced by both
countries' suspicions of India. In 1991 China called on
India to
accept Pakistan's proposal of a nuclear-free weapons zone
in
South Asia. In the same year, Pakistan and China signed a
nuclear
cooperation treaty reportedly intended for peaceful
purposes.
This agreement included provision by China of a nuclear
power
plant to Pakistan.

An added source of tension in Indo-Pakistani relations
concerned the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in
December
1979
(see Other South Asian Countries
, this ch.). India
refused
to condemn the Soviet action, while Pakistan provided
sanctuary
for Afghan refugees and was a conduit for supplying arms
from the
United States and others to the Afghan mujahidin.
During
the Soviet Union's military intervention in Afghanistan,
therefore, Pakistan felt an increased threat on both its
eastern
and northwestern borders. The rise of militant Hinduism in
India,
and the accompanying violence against Muslims there, was a
further source of uneasiness between the two countries.